


Let Love In

by tea (SPICEandTEA)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Accident, Episode 4 coda, Gen, Ice, Injury, LITERALLY, Relationship Development, Stubborn Yuuri, Training, coach victor, fall - Freeform, mutual understanding, practice, quad salchow, worried, yuuri on ice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 09:25:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10273691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SPICEandTEA/pseuds/tea
Summary: Viktor sighs, pushing his bangs out of his face. The same thing keeps happening again and again. How else can he explain to Yuuri the proper technique? How can he help his student make the next attempt different than the others?But the fourteenth time Yuuri flies and fallsisdifferent than the others.This time he doesn’t get up.





	

It didn’t look like he fell _that_ hard.

 

Viktor had been watching Yuuri fall all day. Thirteen attempts: eight falls, three two-footed landings and two touch-downs. With every collision, Yuuri got up, took a lap, and went for it again. And again. And again. Viktor had never seen someone so determined to land a quad salchow, so set on accomplishing a single goal.

 

So eager to fight.

 

It was admirable and one of the many reasons why Viktor loved him. He has done so much more than revitalize his inspiration; Yuuri motivates him to be better every day, reminds him of life’s simple pleasure, shows him that being a good man and a great man are two separate things entirely. Yuuri also makes Viktor grateful that he can land all his jumps without having go through this turmoil four times a week. Yuuri and this quad is a rivalry for the ages and, right now, the quad is winning.

 

Viktor can tell by the push-off that Yuuri isn’t landing this one. His weight distribution is wrong, again. Yuuri goes up and crashes down, his fourteenth attempt leaving him sprawled out on the ice, sliding forward with his leftover momentum.

 

Viktor sighs, pushing his bangs out of his face. The same thing keeps happening again and again. How else can he explain to Yuuri the proper technique? How can he help his student make the next attempt different than the others?

 

But the fourteenth time Yuuri flies and falls is different than the others.

 

This time he doesn’t get up.

 

“Yuuri…?”

 

His voice echoes through the empty Ice Castle. Viktor instantly panics. He’s over the barrier, skating to where Yuuri is on the ice. No, no, no, how did this happen? Not Yuuri, never Yuuri. How could he let something like this happen?

 

It didn’t look like he fell _that_ hard.

 

“Yuuri!” Viktor is on his knees next to his splayed-out student. His eyes scan Yuuri’s body in a panicked attempt to assess the situation. Feet normal, legs straight, torso good, shoulders fine, neck stable, eyes open…

 

“Huh?”

 

Viktor sees Yuuri staring back at him, his eyes an impossible mix of downtrodden and playful that pulls at Viktor’s heart in a way it shouldn’t. Yuuri blows a lock of hair out of his eyes and tries to smile, his face against the ice.

 

“I’m sorry, Viktor. But…I think I’m done for the day.”

 

Later, Viktor will try to count the times in his life he has ever felt more relieved. He’ll try and try but he won’t be able to think of a single time because Katsuki Yuuri is a tease (now in more ways than one) and how could he _scare him like that_ , and why didn’t he answer when he called out to him? But instead Viktor sighs, the tension in his body giving out as he lays next to his student on the ice and welcomes reality.

 

Yuuri isn’t hurt. Yuuri is fine.

 

“How could you do that to me, Yuuri?”

 

“I’m sorry…I just, I needed a minute.”

 

“You’re going to make me go bald! Do you want me to look like Yakov?!”

 

Yuuri laughs, but it’s hollow. Viktor slowly lets the worry creep back into his chest. Yuuri is stubborn, he never gives up, never lets his failures hold him back in practice. He always keeps going, even when he’s told to stop. Yuuri is a fierce competitor; Viktor has never seen Yuuri lay down and give up on his own accord.

 

Until now.

 

“Are you really okay, Yuuri?”

 

“Yeah…” he manages to choke out, still out of breath from the fall. “It didn’t really hurt that bad. I just needed to take a second. The cold ice…feels good. It’s numbing and…well, making me feel less frustrated?”

 

He tries to end with a laugh, but it’s a pathetic attempt that only makes Viktor’s soul ache more. Yuuri is tired and angry and holding it all inside because he doesn’t want Viktor to see. _I was ignoring you so you wouldn’t see any of my shortcoming_ , Yuuri had said. There must still be a part of him that wants to keep his emotions buried inside.

 

Viktor looks at Yuuri, sees the raspy breath leave his lips, notices the redness creeping on his cheeks. Viktor sighs, he needs to find a way to help, a way to give everything Yuuri has given him back.

 

“Well…as your coach, I can’t advise lying flat on the ice in a T-shirt.”

 

“How can you say that when you’re lying right next to me?”

 

Viktor blinks. Once, twice. Yuuri is surprisingly observant and clever.

 

Viktor has always loved surprises.

 

“My poor body gave out after you scared me half to death!”

 

“Mine did too after eating ice on my fourteenth failure at the salchow.”

 

Viktor rolls from his stomach to his back. It’s 2PM. They were supposed to practice till 4, break for dinner and then practice again from 6 to 9. But there’s no way he can do that to Yuuri now, not after he finally vocalized an instance of weakness for the first time. How can he make this better? As a coach, how can he make this right again?

 

“Come on Yuuri,” Viktor says, getting to his knees. “Like it or not, I can’t leave you here. What would happen if I let my star pupil catch a cold?”

 

“I’m your only pupil, Viktor,” Yuuri says, taking the hand Viktor extends to him and finally getting up off the ice. He’s slow to move and colder than he should be, but seeing him standing again is another great relief.

 

Viktor keeps Yuuri’s hand in his as he skates towards the wall, both surprised and touched that Yuuri is letting himself be pulled to the rink’s edge. Yuuri sits down on the bench like he is dropping a 500-pound weight, allowing his body to go limp in the two seconds it takes for him to hit the bench. Viktor grabs a towel and his warm-up jacket; between the sweat and melting ice, Yuuri is soaked and Viktor can’t let him stay that way. His pupil lets Viktor drape the jacket around his shoulders and start drying him off. For some reason he is too preoccupied staring at the ceiling, the light in his eyes giving away everything thought in his mind. Yuuri’s searching for a way to be better, to not give up, to land the quad sal. Viktor only wishes he knew how to help.

 

“I’m…sorry…” Yuuri finally says to break the silence, his apology entirely unneeded and painful to hear.

 

“Yuuri, there’s no reason to apologize. We all fall. I just wish there was some way I can help you better.”

 

“You couldn’t help more!” Yuuri almost lashes out, staring Viktor straight in the face. Viktor is on his knees in front of Yuuri drying off his legs and Yuuri is taken aback by how close together they are. His cheeks only get a little redder as he continues. “You couldn’t be helping more. Viktor, just you _being_ here is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. It’s my fault. I need to do more, work harder. I need to tell you when I’m angry instead of taking it out on myself…on my body.”

 

Wide-eyed, Viktor nods slowly. He came to an answer without any help. Katsuki Yuuri is truly the most amazing person he has ever met. Such a _good_ man. Viktor may be amazing, and legendary, and great but Yuuri is so _good_ , it makes his eyes sting.

 

“I’m always here for you, Yuuri. I’ll always be ready to listen, no matter how petty you think it is,” Viktor’s words are tender as he stands, holding out his hand for Yuuri to take again. “But now you have to listen to me. I prescribe a full day’s rest in the hot spring and you cannot refuse. Coach’s orders.

 

Yuuri smiles and the whole room lights up. Yuuri smiles and Viktor can already see his complete free skate, its beauty, its music, its message to the world. Yuuri smiles and Viktor knows the next time he sees Yuuri on ice, it won’t be lying in defeat, but soaring through the air in an amazing routine that will shock the world.

 

Yuuri smiles and, for the second time today, takes Viktor’s hand and lets himself be led.

 

 

The next day, Yuuri skates, and preps, and rises, and flies.

 

And lands.


End file.
